Kapama Umkumbe Safari

Kevin from Kentucky USA, took his mom on a safari adventure for a week. They decided to check out two different areas of the Greater Kruger Park. Here are Kevin’s notes on his Safari…

When my mother made her first trip to Africa (from Kentucky, USA) to visit me in Cape Town, I asked Africa Bespoke to help me make sure she wanted to come back to Africa soon. Luke put together a truly memorable week of game viewing for the two of us, centered around Kapama Private Reserve and Umkumbe Lodge in the Sabi Sand Reserve, adjacent to Kruger Park. Getting there was a breeze: on the direct flight from Cape Town to Hoedspruit, followed by a 30 minute game drive through Kapama Reserve to our lodge, Southern Camp.

Special sightings from Kapama included watching a lioness lazily chase zebra before finding an old boot to take back to her pride to play with (the familial connection to housecats suddenly became a lot clearer!), seeing a white rhino suckling her mewling baby, and pursuing a leopard on the hunt at night. The best part of the experience, though, was undoubtedly the information, stories and good vibes contributed by our ranger Jacques and tracker Light.

Highlights from Umkumbe included watching a huge herd of elephants crossing the Sand River from the deck of the lodge, seeing a hyena’s odd, loping gait for the first time, and enjoying our drinks while watching spectacular sunsets over the zebra and rhino-dotted veld. Before the trip, I thought that a week of safari might be too much, but I was dead wrong: Mom and I were both eagerly seeing and learning new things even on the last day.

I think it really helped that Africa Bespoke picked out two lodges that were perfect for us, yet quite quite different from each other in terms of both terrain and character – with Kapama having a more modern, professional feel and Umkhumbe a more old-school, family-run vibe. It was also a really simple, smooth experience – Africa Bespoke booked us flights directly from Cape Town to the airport near Kapama, and we really enjoyed the easy drive through rural Mpumalanga between the two lodges, as well as a day meandering the Panorama Route. We’ll both be telling stories from this trip for years to come, and Mom is definitely hooked on South African travel now.